Episode 56, ‘Utopia for Realists’ with Rutger Bregman (Part II)

Rutger Bregman is a historian and author, best known
for his bestselling book, Utopia for Realists: and how we can
get there. Arguing for new utopian ideas such as a fifteen-hour
work week and universal basic income, Utopia for Realists has been
translated into over 30 different languages, making headlines and
sparking movements across the world.

Despite the fact we’ve never had it better, says Bregman, here
in the Land of Plenty, we lack the desire and vision to improve
society. The crisis of our times, of our generation “is not that we
have it good, or even that we might be worse of later, but that we
can’t come up with anything better… Notching up purchasing power
another percentage point, or shaving off our carbon emissions;
perhaps a new gadget – that’s about the extent of our vision.”

At best, Bregman provides us with a desirable and achievable
vision of human progress; a world with no borders, 15-hour work
weeks and a universal basic income for everybody. At worst, Bregman
wakes us up from our dogmatic slumber, encouraging us to ask
important questions about 21st-century life. In his own words:

“Why have we been working harder and harder since the 1980s
despite being richer than ever? Why are millions of people still
living in poverty when we are more than rich enough to put an end
to it once and for all? And why is more than 60% of your income
dependent on the country where you just so happen to have been
born?”

Part I. Utopia for Realists.

Part II. Further Analysis and Discussion.

About the Podcast

A weekly 'informal and informative' philosophy podcast inspiring and supporting students, teachers, academics and free-thinkers worldwide. All episodes are available at www.thepanpsycast.com.